Copyright, Fair Use, & Source Code

The images from television programs and films on Shot Logger are used for critical, teaching, and scholarship purposes. It is our understanding of Section 107 "Limitations on Exclusive Rights: Fair Use" of U.S. copyright law that these purposes constitute "fair use" of copyrighted material.

We believe that our use of television and film images passes the "Four Factor Fair Use Test" that encapsulates the main provisions of Section 107. Moreover, we believe that the arguments made in favor of fair use in Kristin Thompson's "Fair Usage Publication of Film Stills" and the Society for Cinema and Media Studies' "Best Practices For Fair Use in Teaching" should also apply here.

However, we do not wish to infringe upon any copyrights. If you are a copyright holder and you believe our use of an image infringes upon your copyright, please notify us and we will immediately remove that image from Shot Logger.

Process for Notification of Claimed Infringement

As per the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 (512(c)(3)(A)(i-vi)):

A notification of claimed infringement must be a written communication provided to the designated agent of a service provider that includes substantially the following:
- (i) A physical or electronic signature of a person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.
- (ii) Identification of the copyrighted work claimed to have been infringed, or, if multiple copyrighted works at a single online site are covered by a single notification, a representative list of such works at that site.
- (iii) Identification of the material that is claimed to be infringing or to be the subject of infringing activity and that is to be removed or access to which is to be disabled, and information reasonably sufficient to permit the service provider to locate the material.
- (iv) Information reasonably sufficient to permit the service provider to contact the complaining party, such as an address, telephone number, and, if available, an electronic mail address at which the complaining party may be contacted
- (v) A statement that the complaining party has a good faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law.
- (vi) A statement that the information in the notification is accurate, and under penalty of perjury, that the complaining party is authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.

For purposes of notification, the designated agent is:

Jeremy Butler
Professor Emeritus, TV and Film Studies
The University of Alabama

Use of Shot Logger's Data

Shot Logger's data, although copyrighted, are available for download and use according to the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License. Data, text, images, or video/sound on ShotLogger.org may not be reproduced for commercial purposes. However, educational and other non-commercial uses are permitted, if proper attribution is given.

Use of Shot Logger's Source Code

Shot Logger relies heavily upon an open-source project: the Videolan VLC media player. Shot Logger's own source code is also open-source. Specifically, Shot Logger's software and data are licensed under the GNU General Public License, Version 3. None of Shot Logger's programming code may be reproduced for commercial purposes without prior permission. However, educational and other non-commercial uses are permitted without prior permission, if proper attribution is given. Please see the GNU General Public License, Version 3 for details.

Shot Logger's source code—primitive though it may be—is available on GitHub as open-source software.